In a circular issued today, Dec. 19th, the EPFO allowed members who have not been employed for at least one month to withdraw up to 75% of their provident corpus. The EPFO circular clearly states that after two months of continuous unemployment 100% of the corpus can be withdrawn. There has been some confusion in this regard and this post is to clarify the same.

A new clause, 68HH has been inserted after para 68H in the 1952 EPF act

“68HH. Non-refundable advance to a member in case of continuous un-employment for a period of not less than one month.- The Commissioner or, where so authorised by the Commissioner, any other officer subordinate to him, may permit a member, on ceasing to be an employee in any factory or establishment to which the Act applies, a non-refundable advance up to seventy-five percent of the amount standing to his credit in the Fund, if he has not been employed in any factory or other establishment for a continuous period of not less than one month immediately preceding the date on which he makes an application for such non-refundable advance.”.

Even after such withdrawal is made, the person shall remain part of the EPF and eligible for pension benefits. However, the advance cannot be remitted back into the EPF.

The circular clearly states that para 69(2) that allows 100% withdrawal after two months of continuous unemployment is still in effect. Women resigning to get married can withdraw 100% without waiting for two months. This is a snapshot of the circular.

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About the AuthorM. Pattabiraman(PhD) is the author and owner of freefincal.com. He is an associate professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras since Aug 2006. Follow @freefincal “Pattu” as he is popularly known, has co-authored two print-books, You can be rich too with goal based investing (CNBC TV18) and Gamechanger and seven other free e-books on various topics of money management. He is a patron and co-founder of “Fee-only India” an organisation to promote unbiased, commission-free investment advice.
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